George Lucas came up with the germ of the idea that would become Indiana Jones before he made "Star Wars." Much like the sci-fi/fantasy epic that would soon take over the world, Indiana Jones as a character was inspired by Lucas' love of serials. The creative, however, was struggling to nail down his action-adventure icon, so he turned to a filmmaker pal named Philip Kaufman, a writer and director you'll know from his work in 1978's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Right Stuff."

It was Kaufman who took the first stab at figuring out what this adventure movie could be, and is credited with bringing in the idea of making the Ark of the Covenant the MacGuffin of the movie. But Kaufman's involvement with what would become "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was truncated due to a commitment he had for another job, this time as writer and director on the Clint Eastwood western, "The Outlaw Josey Wales."

Because of this development, Lucas decided to shelve this project and went on to make that little "Star Wars" movie. Sadly enough, Kaufman ended up butting heads with Eastwood during the early days of production on "Josey Wales" and was ultimately fired off the movie, with Eastwood himself stepping in to direct.

What's crazy is that if Kaufman hadn't been lured away by "The Outlaw Josey Wales," Indiana Jones would look a lot different.

The Delay That Resulted In The Best Possible Scenario To Make A Classic

We all have heard the origin story of Steven Spielberg's involvement with "Raiders," but if you've somehow missed it, the short version is that Spielberg and George Lucas were vacationing in Hawaii together as "Star Wars" was taking over the world. Lucas mentioned the archeology project he had on his shelf, and Spielberg wanted in right away. A longtime 007 fan, Spielberg saw the potential for Indiana Jones to be an American James Bond type.

If Philip Kaufman hadn't backed out in order to direct "The Outlaw Josey Wales," it is very possible that the whip-cracking archeologist adventurer would have gone into the fight without Spielberg at the helm, and that by itself changes everything about that series.

On top of this, it's important to realize that Harrison Ford was pretty much a bit player when the idea for Indiana Jones was first being kicked around. Without him playing Han Solo in "Star Wars," it's very unlikely that Ford would have donned the fedora for "Raiders." Hell, he barely did it in the reality we know! Lucas was skeptical of Ford in the role because he thought it was too close to Han Solo, and we infamously almost got Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones instead.

Sometimes the movie gods act for a reason, and it feels like everything happened the way it was supposed to for "Raiders of the Lost Ark." So, even though I'm sure it sucked for Kaufman, we movie fans have to send some gratitude over to "The Outlaw Josey Wales" for being the obstacle in the road to production that resulted in one of the best American action films of all time.

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